


Into the Wild

by Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempted camping, Human Loki, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:35:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6119512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum/pseuds/Dont_touch_the_phlebotinum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was going to be the worst weekend of Loki's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Wild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plastic_cello](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plastic_cello/gifts).



This was going to be the worst weekend of Loki's life. Okay, perhaps that was a little melodramatic, but — no, actually Loki was fairly confident in that assessment. He'd hated camping when it had been his parents dragging him to the middle of nowhere for a week of utter boredom; being forced to tag along with Thor and his fraternity buddies sounded even less appealing. His only solace was that at least there was certain to be alcohol to distract him this time.

He gazed longingly back up at the window of his dorm room, and with a scowl at the thought of how much better his weekend could be if he remained on campus, Loki folded his arms across his chest. He stayed in place, slumped back against the low brick wall lining the path towards his dorm building, until he heard the familiar sound of a car engine begging for death before Thor's car came into view further down the street.

Loki had never understood why, with the generous funds available to him, Thor would choose to buy a beat-up old station wagon that started with a prayer and a few hard slaps to the dashboard for good measure, but watching him approach in it now, mountain bikes secured to the roof rack and the back piled with supplies, it began to make more sense. Loki almost wished it wouldn't. But on the bright side, maybe the engine would finally give out before they could leave the city. Knowing his luck, though, if the thing did break down, it would be once they were already in the mountains trying to make their way home.

The car rattled to a stop in front of him and the driver's side door swung open with a painful squeak. "Hey, Loki," Thor's friend Steve called warmly from the front seat while Thor climbed from the car, and Loki gave him a half-hearted wave in response before turning to his brother. And at the sight of him, Loki quickly forgot any concerns he had about climbing into his death trap of a car.

"Wow," Loki said, wide-eyed, as he took in the slightly disturbing sight of his brother sporting a pair of thigh-skimming khaki shorts.

"Mock all you want," Thor replied while his eyes flicked over Loki's outfit, "but how well do you think you'll do hiking in jeans and biker boots?"

Oh God, the hiking. Loki had forgotten about the hiking. This weekend had seemed bad enough just when he'd thought he would be sitting around a campfire in the woods the whole time. "Why did I let you force me into this?" he groaned.

"No-one's forcing you to do anything."

"So I can go back upstairs?"

"No," Thor said, grabbing the bags at Loki's feet and heading towards the back of the car.

Loki reluctantly followed. Thor's trunk was already crammed with his and Steve's things, but as Loki stood watching without bothering to offer any assistance Thor managed to slot Loki's sleeping bag and the backpack he'd quickly pulled his books from after the day's classes to stuff his clothes into in beside them, before turning to Loki again to take the tent from his hands.

He eyed Loki's tent with disdain as Loki passed it to him. Even folded up, it was a sorry sight. "Where did you get this?"

"Sigurd." He didn't want to imagine the kinds of unseemly things that had taken place inside his roommate's tent, but Sigurd had been good enough to lend it to Loki, so he was in no real position to question it. And he certainly wasn't going to waste money buying his own when he'd have no intention of ever using again.

Thor closed the trunk and gestured for Loki to climb into the back. There was a spring in his step while he rounded the car to slip behind the wheel again that was by no means an unusual sight, but it made Loki roll his eyes all the same. "Right," he said brightly, gazing from Steve back to Loki, "onto the next stop, then."

They pulled away from the curb — once Thor had finally managed to get the car to start again — and Loki frowned as they turned to set off in the opposite direction. "We're going back to the frat house?" he said, and Thor hummed in response.

God, how many more of them were coming this weekend? Though it wouldn't make much difference to Loki, he supposed. He'd probably end up sat alone ignoring the others as much as possible the whole time anyway. But it was late afternoon already, thanks to the classes that neither Thor nor Loki had been able to skip preventing them from getting away any earlier, and it would be a few hours' drive up to the mountains even without the traffic to take into account; if they had many more stops to make they'd be putting their tents up in the dark.

"There he is," Steve said when they approached the house, and Loki peered out of the window to see a guy stood waiting by the front steps with a battered duffel bag slung over his shoulder, his hands thrust into the pockets of his navy bomber jacket and a disinterested expression on his face. He looked their way as Thor pulled up, and Steve climbed out of the car to load the guy's bag into the back.

"Do you know Bucky?" Steve said over his shoulder to Loki once he'd climbed into his seat again, pointing towards his friend sliding in behind Steve's chair as if Loki couldn't guess who he was talking about.

"No," replied Loki, and glanced at Bucky. "Hi."

Bucky gave him a polite smile in return. "Hey."

With that they set off, Loki staring down at his phone while he still had a signal and doing his best to tune out the conversation filling the car over the sound of the radio. It wasn't until they'd broken through the city traffic and the jungle of glass and concrete surrounding them had melted into suburbs and growing stretches of open landscape that he looked up again, his eyes drifting over to Bucky gazing out of the window without looking particularly impressed by anything he saw. It seemed Bucky had had about as much choice in whether or not he came along this weekend as Loki had.

Loki couldn't really say he minded that Bucky was there, though, now that he'd given him more than just a passing glance. Bucky was pretty hot; almost matinee idol-like with his square, clean-shaven jaw and wide blue eyes, and as his tongue darted out to lick his full lips Loki couldn't help but imagine how incredible they'd look stretched around his dick.

Of course, fantasising was about all Loki would be able to do this weekend. It was that thought that finally forced his eyes away, luckily before Bucky could turn back from the window and notice Loki drinking in the sight of him so hungrily.

He peered out of the window at the trees speeding past outside, doing his best to keep Bucky from his thoughts — which naturally only seemed to embed him deeper in Loki's mind — until they finally reached the entrance to the camping grounds. The car struggled up the hills towards their campsite, and once Thor had parked Loki was the first to climb free from it, eager to stretch his aching limbs. He glanced around the secluded spot while the others spilled out and began to unload their things. There wasn't much at the camp besides the remnants of countless burned-out fires and some logs placed around it for seating, but then Loki had hardly expected it to be the Plaza. He was just glad there were still a couple of hours of daylight left for them to get everything set up.

"Smells weird," Bucky announced from behind him, and Loki looked back to see him wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"It's called fresh air," Steve replied with a teasing smile on his face as he handed Bucky his duffel.

Whatever response Bucky might have had, though, Loki didn't hear it, distracted by Thor calling his name and tossing his things out of the car onto the dirt.

"Watch it, would you?" he said, charging to Thor's side and snatching his backpack from Thor's hand before he could throw that, too. He gathered up the rest of his things from the ground and stalked over to a corner of the site he was claiming as his own to try and put his tent together.

It wasn't a particularly straightforward task. Whatever assembly instructions Sigurd might have once had for the thing were long lost, and the poles were too old and rusted for Loki to easily work out which were meant to go where. But he managed to get it set up in the end — without having to accept Thor's only slightly patronising offer to help after he'd quickly assembled his own, thank goodness — and turned to see the others had already squared their things away. He shoved his own bags into the tent to sort out later and stepped back towards what he supposed would be their living area for the next two days, taking a seat on a tree stump next to the log Bucky was perched on while Thor and Steve wandered around exploring the site.

"You didn't bring your own tent?" Loki said with a frown as he glanced over at the two far more impressive-looking tents on either side of his own.

"Don't have one. But there's room for two people inside Steve's."

Loki nodded. Thor's tent was really big enough that Loki could have slept in there rather than bring his own, but after a childhood spent sharing a bedroom with Thor he knew better. Before he could say anything else the sound of twigs breaking and leaves crunching beneath people's feet grew louder, and Thor and Steve emerged from where they'd gone disappearing into the trees.

"There's a nice lake just back that way," Steve announced, gesturing over his shoulder. "Shouldn't take too long to hike around it. You guys in?"

"If you wanted to walk around a lake we could've just gone to Central Park," Bucky said, and Steve shot him an exasperated look.

"You know, you're going to be glad you came by the end of this weekend, Bucky."

"Doubt it," he replied, though there was a hint of amusement on his face.

"Loki, how about you? Are you going to be more fun than Barnes here?"

"No, in this case I think I'm tragically averse to fun."

"Well if you two are staying here you might as well get dinner started," Thor said, grabbing his backpack from beside his tent while Steve slipped a windbreaker on over his t-shirt to shield against the slight chill that was growing in the air. "We'll see you in a while."

The pair turned back the way they'd come and vanished into the trees again, leaving Loki and Bucky to stare after them in silence. Loki was the first to break it, once the sound of footsteps had died away again completely.

"You didn't much want to be here either, then?" he said as he leant forward to inspect the camping stove Thor had brought.

"I'm from Brooklyn," Bucky replied, as if that fact should be explanation enough. "I don't feel right unless I'm surrounded by concrete."

"I can relate." He and Bucky smiled at each other for a moment, before Loki forced his gaze away and it landed on the cooler. "Thirsty?"

"No, but I'll drink."

They were going to have to in order to get through this weekend. Loki fetched them each a beer, as well as a pack of sausages to cook for dinner, and Bucky gave him a grateful smile when he returned and handed one of the cans to him.

"Cheers," he said, raising his can in salutation, as Loki reclaimed his seat and they both took a long drink.

As they did so a cold wind blew through the clearing, the sun long since having dropped too far beneath the tree line to keep them warm. The first signs of pink and orange creeping across the clouds signalled the approaching sunset.

"I guess we should think about getting a fire going before it gets dark," Bucky said, and set his drink down before pushing himself to his feet. "I'll go get us some wood."

He made his way back towards the entrance to their site, and this time Loki let his gaze linger on Bucky, his eyes drifting south to marvel at the view of Bucky's incredibly flattering jeans as he walked away. It was better than anything else he'd seen so far today. Once Bucky had disappeared out of sight Loki set about gathering whatever sticks he could find scattered about nearby as well, if only to distract himself while he was alone. He never had any objection to spending time alone usually — if anything, he preferred it — and while it was hardly silent around him, there was something oddly stifling about the lack of human noise between the birds chirping and leaves rustling in the breeze.

Thankfully it wasn't long before Bucky returned, his arms loaded with sticks, and the silence was immediately more comfortable. Neither of them felt any need to make awkward small talk — as much as Loki might have liked to quiz Bucky about his life, his interests, whether he enjoyed sex with other men — while they set about their tasks, Bucky busying himself building a fire while Loki turned back to the stove to start cooking.

Whether they were summoned by the smell of cooked sausages and eggs or just possessed incredible timing, Thor and Steve returned just as Loki was piling food onto Bucky's plate. "Smells good," Thor said while the pair dropped their backpacks and grabbed themselves each a plate. The sky was well and truly growing dark by now, what little daylight there was left lost in the forest cover, the hearty fire crackling between them their main source of light now.

"It's poisoned."

"Don't joke about that." Thor took a seat beside the cooler as he spoke and reached into it, handing a beer over to Steve sat beside Bucky before helping himself to one as well. "I wouldn't put it past you."

"How was the hike?" Bucky said.

Steve hummed enthusiastically, halfway through a mouthful of eggs. "It was great," he replied once he'd swallowed his food. "You two will have to check it out at some point before we leave."

Loki wrinkled his nose in response. Though it would probably be far more tolerable to go off exploring without Thor and his irritating zest for getting back to nature, and more interesting than sitting around the campsite all weekend. Still, Loki wasn't sure he could muster the enthusiasm to bother.

By the time they'd finished eating the sky had darkened completely, the air growing colder save for the warmth around the fire, and at some point they'd all begun to lean in closer to it. The forest seemed to have morphed completely under the cover of night, the soft birdsong replaced by animal calls Loki couldn't identify, the light from their fire quickly swallowed up by the blackness surrounding the camp. It was an odd experience, to say the least. Loki had lived in the heart of one city or another all his life; he'd never encountered anything quite like this.

"It gets quite spooky out here at night, doesn't it?" Thor said, looking around the campsite with a smile that suggested he was thrilled by the prospect. "Nobody around for miles."

That estimate was probably something of an exaggeration. Certainly there had been other cars parked outside the welcome centre when they'd arrived, and the weather was nice enough this time of year that there were probably other campers here for the weekend, though the nearby plots in the modest clearing that formed their campground had been empty since they'd arrived. Loki was hardly about to lament that fact, though; knowing Thor he'd have gone and introduced himself to anyone else lucky enough to be camping nearby and they'd be spending their evening getting to know their 'neighbours.' He'd take spooky solitude over awkward encounters with strangers any time.

"Well, except for that strange masked man who's been lurking in the trees all evening," Loki replied, gesturing towards the edge of their camp as if there was actually somebody waiting out there, though sadly no-one bothered turning to look just in case.

"Don't worry; Thor can scare him off with the sound of his singing."

Thor looked over at Steve with an affronted expression. "I have the voice of an angel," he said, and Loki and Steve both snorted in response.

They stayed up for another hour or so after that, sharing a few beers and drowning out the sounds of the surrounding wildlife with their conversation — or rather, Thor and Steve did. When Loki did pay attention he never had much to add to the discussion, and Bucky was similarly quiet. For the most part, he seemed a man of few words, happy to listen to the others' stories with a soft smile, his features warm and open in the firelight.

Finally, Steve stretched and checked his watch. "Well I guess we'd better call it a night," he said, downing the rest of his beer and tossing the can back into the empty box that had been serving as a bin.

Bucky frowned. "It's ten o'clock."

"Big day tomorrow," Steve explained. "We don't want to sleep all morning."

Bucky looked like he'd actually quite like to, though he didn't object, climbing to his feet and kicking dirt over the already burning-out fire while the others got ready to turn in for the night. After a chorus of 'goodnight's they went their separate ways.

Now this was the part Loki hadn't been looking forward to — as much as he'd been looking forward to any of it. In the cramped space inside his tent, wriggling out of his boots and jeans and into his sleeping bag was far easier said than done, and once he'd managed it he was met with a cacophony when he lay down to try and sleep. If it had seemed bad before, it was nothing compared to the noise now, with no conversation or crackling fire to drown out the sounds. Loki frowned at the hooting of an owl in the trees above him while he struggled to find a sleeping position even vaguely comfortable on the hard ground beneath his sleeping bag. Any time he seemed to find one he'd start aching again within minutes, and when he didn't something would start screeching in the distance just as he'd been about to drift off and jolt him awake again.

But he must have fallen asleep eventually, thank goodness, for the next thing he knew sunlight was pouring through the thin fabric of his tent, and the sounds of animals hunting in the night had been replaced by cheery morning birdsong. He threw a hand over his face with a grimace, reluctant to get up just yet but even more reluctant to stay in his sleeping bag a moment longer. Quickly Loki wriggled free and pulled on some clean clothes, climbing out of his tent and stretching as he looked around the campsite.

Bucky was the only one up yet, apparently, sitting on the tree stump with his head propped up in his hand and looking like he was having a hard time not falling asleep again.

"Please tell me there's coffee," Loki said while he crossed the site to join him.

"There's hot pisswater," replied Bucky, gesturing over to the Thermos beside the stove before grimacing as he took a sip from his own cup. He seemed about as tired as Loki felt. His hair was tamed into place but noticeably scruffier than it had looked the day before, no doubt the product of being raked through by his fingers, a hint of stubble smattered across his chin, and he gave a long yawn while Loki poured himself out some coffee. To Loki's irritation, though, Bucky still managed to look good.

He glanced down into his own cup to give himself something else to look at and gulped down a mouthful. "This is terrible," he said, and Bucky nodded in response.

That didn't keep Loki from taking another sip, though. Desperate times, and all that. He gazed around the camp to try and distract himself from the taste and frowned. There were no signs of life from either of the other tents, and Loki checked his watch to find it was already after 9am; given their enthusiasm to come, he wouldn't have thought Thor or Steve would want to waste a moment of the little time they had up here by sleeping in.

"Where are the others?"

"They've been up for hours," Bucky replied, as if he'd been awake for just as long and wasn't nearly as happy about it. Sharing a tent, that was probably unavoidable, and once again Loki was glad he hadn't decided to sleep in Thor's. "There's some mountain biking trail they went to check out."

"It sounds like they're having quite the romantic weekend."

Bucky hummed, a tired smile on his face. "They'll probably be back before too long."

He was correct in that assumption, as it turned out. Loki was just returning from the poor excuse for a bathroom at the other end of the campgrounds, feeling somewhat better for being able to wash his face, at least, when he heard the deep boom of Thor's laugh from up ahead. The sound of conversation grew louder as Loki approached the camp, and once it was within sight through the trees he spotted Thor and Steve inside the clearing.

"Loki," Thor said in greeting when he caught sight of him, before turning back to the snacks and water bottles laid out on one of the logs beside his backpack. Steve was loading up his own bag across from him when Loki glanced his way, and even Bucky was sliding his jacket on and stuffing bags of trail mix into his pockets. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes."

"Let's get ready to move, then," he went on as he finished storing everything inside his backpack. "We're hiking further up into the mountains. If we leave now we should have time to get to the summit of one of the lower peaks and back before nightfall. Don't worry; it's an easy trail."

Whether or not it was difficult wasn't really Loki's concern. But he sighed, and went to grab his own jacket from his tent while the others finished getting ready. Like it or not, he'd have had to start participating eventually. And given how long they would likely be away from the campgrounds if they were to be hiking so much farther beyond the foothills where they were camped, he most likely wouldn't have been able to get away with staying behind anyway.

They set off, following Thor and Steve's lead since they were the only ones who seemed to have any idea where they were going. But the trail was easy enough to follow once they'd reached it, a wide path cut through the trees and brush, with other groups of hikers waiting at the bottom to set off or already well on their way ahead of them. Still, it wasn't long before Thor and Steve began to pull forward, mostly because neither Loki nor Bucky could be bothered to keep up with their pace.

"You wonder why they even wanted to invite us?" Bucky said at Loki's side as they both gazed up at the pair already ten feet in front and likely to only slip further ahead, given Bucky and Loki's languid stroll up the hills.

"I'm wondering more why I said yes."

Bucky gave a gentle laugh at that, the smile still on his face as he peered down to kick a rock in front of him while he walked. "Why did you?" he said.

Loki shrugged, staring down at his own feet now. His family history was a subject he never much wanted to get into with anyone, but now that Bucky had asked he didn't want to coldly brush him off. "My brother and I have had our problems in the past," he explained. "I imagine Thor trying to include me in his hobbies is his way of building bridges. It felt cruel to say no."

It probably wasn't much kinder to agree and spend the whole time sulking about it, though Thor couldn't expect too much from Loki. If anything, he would probably be more shocked if Loki did show some enthusiasm. But he never took much offense when Loki expressed his disdain towards his interests, shrugging it off with a good-humoured laugh and a loving eye roll in Loki's direction, apparently well aware that Loki's contempt was somewhat embellished more often than not.

Bucky nodded thoughtfully, though he didn't press for more details. They were quiet for a few seconds, absently making their way up the trail while Loki gazed ahead to where Thor was stood with Steve just off to the side of the path, peering at something amongst the trees with interest.

"Or perhaps it's just an easy opportunity for mocking," he said, and Bucky smiled.

"Yeah, this sudden 'man of nature' jag has got to be one of the weirder stunts Steve's pulled. Which, you know, for a frat guy..."

Loki's eyes flicked to Bucky again. "You aren't in the fraternity?"

That was something he'd been wondering since the evening before, actually. He had spent a fair amount of time at the fraternity house since Thor had moved in, and had grown to know some of the brothers relatively well, but he'd never seen Bucky there before. That wasn't exactly unusual, considering the number of guys living there, though if Bucky was so close with Steve, Loki would have thought he'd have seen Bucky around the house with him and Thor before now.

"No," he said emphatically, eyes widening in horror at the suggestion. "I don't know why Steve ever went for it. Those same kinds of guys were the ones beating the crap out of him all the way through school."

Loki frowned as he stared up at Steve after that revelation. With a good few inches of height and forty-odd pounds on just about everyone but Thor, it was hard to imagine anybody wanting to pick a fight with him. "I never thought he'd be the getting-shoved-into-lockers type."

"You'd be surprised," Bucky said, glancing over at Loki warmly enough to make his heart race a little. "Deep down, he's still a skinny little nerd with a death wish. The only reason he's even made it to this point is 'cause he's had me looking out for him his whole life."

Loki smiled at the thought of Bucky chasing after Steve, trying to keep him out of trouble. "Is that why you're here, then? To defend him from hungry predators?"

Bucky scoffed. "If he gets his dumb ass eaten by a pack of wolves, I ain't helping him." He eyed Loki again and they shared a soft laugh before Loki turned his eyes to Thor and Steve, still stood in the same spot, but this time looking back to the pair as they waited for them to catch up.

"Are there wolves up here?" Loki called to Thor as he and Bucky approached.

"Just bears."

"Yeah, 'cause that's much better," Bucky said, just loud enough for Loki to hear, and Loki grinned over at him in response.

As they joined the others Loki realised why they had stopped. They were stood at a small gap in the trees, the break in the foliage revealing how high in the mountains they'd already climbed. There was a steep drop to their right, the river that cut through the mountains just visible below in places where the rock didn't jut out too much. But that wasn't what the pair had been looking at.

"That's where we're heading," Steve said, pointing to the closest of the handful of lush green peaks filling the landscape.

"How long before we reach it?"

He glanced down at his watch. "Another three or four hours, I'd say," he replied. "Though the trail back down should be a little quicker."

Loki would hope so. Though he had to admit, it had been far more enjoyable so far than he'd have ever anticipated. Even when they set off again and he and Bucky just walked along in silence, it was a comfortable one, the pair quietly sharing Bucky's trail mix and rolling their eyes at each other whenever Thor or Steve would get overzealous in their enthusiasm upon spotting something apparently worthy of interest.

Loki didn't pay much notice to any of it. He had his own views to capture his attention.

In the heat from the midday sun Bucky had stripped off his jacket, and the white t-shirt he wore beneath it was just tight enough to cling in the all right places, stretching across firm-looking biceps and pectoral muscles and suggesting there was a well-defined torso hidden beneath the fabric. Loki's eyes travelled down Bucky's stomach, his imagination filling in the blanks, and he said a silent thanks to Steve for dragging Bucky along with them. He didn't want to imagine how dull the weekend would have been without him there.

They didn't bother to stop for lunch until they'd reached the summit; a fairly flat, sparse area scattered with picnic tables and lookout points, an expansive view of the rest of the mountain range stretching out for miles in all directions. Loki and Bucky claimed a nearby picnic table, one of the few that weren't already occupied by other hikers, while the others stood surveying the landscape.

"We'll have to come back and take a stab at one of the more challenging trails next time," Thor said to Steve, nodding towards the higher peaks in the distance before peering over his shoulder to shoot Loki a teasing look. "What do you say, Loki?"

"I think I can say with some confidence that I already have plans," Loki replied, his eyes flicking back towards Bucky sat opposite to see him grinning back at him.

After they'd all finished eating they lingered a while, taking in the views before finally making their way back to camp. The way the clouds had begun to roll in, not thick enough to bring any rain but leaving little space for the sun to break through as they headed deeper into the woods, Loki worried it would be dark before they made it back, but luckily the cloud cover soon thinned and they reached the camp amidst a wash of late afternoon sunlight. Unfortunately, that also meant they still had some time to kill before they needed to worry about starting a fire and settling in at the camp for the evening.

Before Loki could even protest, their resident nature enthusiasts had decided it was the perfect time to drag him and Bucky around the lake they'd found yesterday, and groaning all the way, Loki followed them back into the trees. Admittedly, it was quite a tranquil sight, the sky just turning pink mirrored perfectly in the still waters, only the occasional ripple of movement from birds lazily floating past disturbing the reflection as the group made their way around its banks. Still, Loki was glad to head back to their camp site once Steve and Thor were finally content to sit down and do nothing for the rest of the evening.

They sat slumped around the fire as dinner turned into languid conversation, which in turn became long stretches of tired silence and increasingly frequent yawns. Thor was the first to give in, bidding the others goodnight before disappearing into his tent and, as if the only reason they hadn't gotten up sooner was because the others were all still awake, the rest were quick to follow.

Of course, the fatigue creeping up on him wasn't enough to distract from how uncomfortable it was in Loki's sleeping bag. If anything, he seemed to feel more awake with each passing minute of fighting in vain to find a decent sleeping position, and he lay staring up at the top of his tent in the darkness for God knows how long as he slowly gave up hope of getting to sleep any time soon.

But he wasn't the only one still awake, as it turned out.

At the sound of twigs snapping beneath boots coming from somewhere outside, Loki flicked on his camping lantern, quickly slipping his jeans back on before unzipping the tent just enough to poke his head out. "Trouble sleeping?"

Bucky glanced back at him from where he'd been picking his way across the campsite. "You too, huh?"

Loki nodded. "I would say it's warmer in here if you wanted to come in, but it's really not."

That didn't put Bucky off, fortunately, and with a grin he snatched up the case of beer from the cooler that they'd opened earlier and came to join Loki. "Thanks," he said as he climbed inside, and Loki shoved his things aside to make room for Bucky to sit down.

Once Bucky had offered Loki a beer, which he gladly accepted, they sat together drinking quietly for a moment before he spoke again. "I thought the countryside was supposed to be quieter than the city," he said, staring up as if he could see the leaves rustling above them through Loki's tent.

"I'd thought it would be quieter than my dorm, at least," Loki replied.

Bucky looked back at him as he gulped down another mouthful of his drink. "Pain in the ass roommate?"

"No, he's only slightly insufferable. It's the other students on our floor that are the problem. The noise of the city is blissful in comparison."

"Yeah," Bucky said with a soft laugh. "You give me sirens and traffic and helicopters flying over the building, and I'm sleeping like a baby. But this?" He gestured at the forest surrounding them and shook his head.

"It's not natural."

"See, someone else gets it," Bucky replied, and they shared another laugh. The warm smile was still on Bucky's face as he brought his drink to his lips again, and Loki's eyes lingered longer than they should have, trailing down to watch Bucky's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed and Loki could think of nothing but dragging his lips over it.

He averted his gaze before Bucky could notice him staring, something he'd become quite good at over the course of the last twenty-four hours, and took another long gulp of his own drink. His eyes stayed fixed on the can too intently until Bucky broke the silence again.

"You brought college work?" he said incredulously, and Loki glanced back in his direction to see his eyes on the corporate finance textbook Loki had tossed out of the way earlier.

He shrugged. "I have a paper due in on Friday," he explained. "I thought I'd make a start studying this weekend. Why waste time that could be put to better use in the week when I'm already going to be bored while I'm here?"

"Yeah, good point," Bucky said, and absentmindedly picked up the textbook. He flicked it open and began reading, his eyes widening as he skimmed over the pages. "Yeesh."

"It's even duller than it sounds, I assure you," Loki replied. "But don't let the textbook fool you; us business majors are wild."

Bucky met Loki's grin with one of his own. "I'm sure I've heard that said." He set the book aside again and shifted in place until he was facing Loki. "So what, you're having crazy parties each weekend; a different girl on your arm every night?"

"Well, maybe not that last part," Loki said, and Bucky's interest seemed to perk up a little at that. Loki looked back at Bucky even more attentively in turn. He'd given no indication before now that he had any particular interest in Loki, any thought that he might a pipe dream on Loki's part, but if he was interested? Now that would change things.

"That's what you'd be up to if you were back at school right now, is it," Bucky went on, as he leant closer into Loki's space, "having the kind of night that'll cause a scandal in twenty years when you're some big shot CEO?"

"That, or just finding someone to take home for the night," Loki replied. "You?"

"Probably something similar, I guess," Bucky shrugged, and as Loki stretched out atop his sleeping bag, propped up on one elbow while he took another sip of his drink, Bucky's eyes travelled down to Loki's crotch, before quickly flicking away again. He was definitely interested, then, unless by some small chance it had been wishful thinking causing Loki to imagine the moment. Judging by the light flush spreading across Bucky's cheeks as he looked down in apparent embarrassment, though, that wasn't the case. Loki smiled to himself before speaking again.

"We still could, of course," he said, injecting as much nonchalance into his voice as he could to try and hide just how much he really hoped Bucky would say yes.

Bucky looked back at him in surprise for a moment, and Loki quirked an eyebrow.

"Well?"

He gave a self-conscious laugh as he studied Loki's face intently, presumably to check if was serious. "I wouldn't say no," he said finally.

"Good."

With that Loki downed the rest of his drink and tossed his empty can aside before scrambling onto his knees to lean in and kiss Bucky. He responded immediately, his tongue flicking almost teasingly against Loki's while his hands slid to Loki's hips to hold him close. As if Loki was going to pull back now he'd finally got what he wanted. He closed his eyes, fingers gripping tightly at Bucky's soft hair, his heart racing already in his excitement and cock just beginning to stir in anticipation. They broke apart after a long moment, both breathless and still clinging to each other, and Bucky peered up through his dark eyelashes to meet Loki's gaze.

"Are you always this forward?" he said, his lips quirking into a crooked smile that was just begging to be kissed.

"No," Loki replied, before doing exactly that, his lips brushing Bucky's far more chastely this time. "But were you going to make the first move?"

"After another beer or two I might have."

"I don't have the patience for that."

Bucky laughed. "I kinda noticed."

That wasn't the only thing Loki didn't have the patience for, though. As he leant down to drag his lips along the column of Bucky's throat his hand slid from Bucky's hair, over the firm muscles of his chest and stomach, before unzipping Bucky's jeans and massaging his growing erection through the cotton of his boxer shorts. Bucky did the same, and Loki rocked his hips into the touch. The pressure against his cock was sublime, but it wasn't long before Loki was aching for more.

"Get up," he breathed between heated kisses, shifting back to give Bucky room to scramble up onto his knees. Bucky quickly shrugged off his jacket while he did so, and Loki teased the hard buds of his nipples poking against his t-shirt before his hands moved lower to pull Bucky's jeans down around his thighs. He took a moment to appreciate the sight of Bucky's erection curving up towards his stomach, and finally tore his eyes away to see Bucky grinning back at him. "Nice cock."

"Thanks." His hands moved to Loki's hips again as he spoke, fingers sliding under the waistband of Loki's jeans to tug them down as well. "You too."

He pulled Loki in for another kiss, clumsy this time as they both focused their attention on reaching down to finally touch each other properly. Loki's hips snapped forward unbidden when Bucky wrapped a hand around his cock and started to stroke, a low moan slipping from his lips. It was only then that he remembered Thor and Steve sleeping not too far from his tent. They were sure to wake up and hear him and Bucky if they were too loud, but when Bucky was touching him like this, when he was pushing his hips forward into Loki's hand with every stroke as desperate for this as Loki was, it was difficult to care.

After a few blissful minutes Loki pulled back from Bucky's touch, to keep himself from getting too excited too quickly as much as anything, and looked up at Bucky. He was staring back at Loki with a breathless smile, lips parted and red, swollen and shining in the light from Loki's lamp. It was an effort to resist the urge to close the distance between them and kiss him again, but Loki had something far better in mind.

With a grin he reached under Bucky's t-shirt, sliding it up until he could close his lips around a dark nipple, teasing it with his tongue and teeth, Bucky's gasps and shaking breaths urging him onwards. He steadily worked his way down Bucky's torso, Bucky's hand resting gently on the back of his head to guide him as Bucky realised exactly where Loki was heading, until Loki wrapped his hand around the base of Bucky's dick again and dragged his tongue over the head.

"Fuck," he heard Bucky whisper above him while his fingers tangled in Loki's hair.

As signs of encouragement went, that one was fairly unambiguous. So Loki continued, sinking down further on Bucky's cock until he'd taken in about as much as he could. His grip tightened around the remainder and he began to bob his head. It was something of an awkward angle, on his hands and knees inside the cramped tent — a world away from having Bucky sprawled out on Loki's bed as he'd really like to — but he'd manage. The growing aches in his neck and thighs were worth it. And from Bucky's heavy breathing, his moans and whispered praise, he didn't have any complaints.

Loki was just moving back to tongue at the head some more, his own dick aching with arousal, when Bucky pulled him up and into a hungry kiss. He held Loki close, the faint scent of Bucky's minty-smelling bodywash filling Loki's nose with every breath as he wrapped his arms around Bucky, and they sank backwards together.

No sooner than they'd hit the ground Bucky was pulling back from Loki's lips again. He settled between his thighs and with a quick glance back up at Loki watching him, transfixed, he wrapped his lips around Loki's cock. The sight was almost as good as Loki had imagined.

Loki's lips parted, but if any sound came out he was oblivious to it. He wasn't sure he'd be able to focus on much beside Bucky's mouth on him, the feel of his tongue pressing against the underside of Loki's dick while he teased him, the way his eyes slipped closed as if there was nothing hotter than this. Loki's heart was pounding in his chest, the heat from Bucky's mouth seemingly creeping under his skin and spreading throughout his body as the pleasure built and built, and it took all of his willpower to keep from sliding his hands into Bucky's hair and fucking his mouth with abandon.

Before he could reach breaking point, though, Bucky's mouth was gone from his cock. He just had time to let out a shaking exhale before Bucky was above him again, and Loki quickly fisted a hand in his t-shirt to pull him down as he caught Bucky's lips in another rough kiss. Their hips pressed tight together, both of them desperately rutting against one another until Bucky reached between them to close his hand around their aching dicks and add to the friction.

They were both still thrusting into Bucky's fist when he pulled back from the trail of wet kisses he'd been leaving along Loki's jawbone to meet his gaze. "Don't suppose there's a chance you brought any lube with you?" he said, before catching Loki's lips again.

Loki let out a tiny groan at the feel of Bucky's teeth grazing his bottom lip and applying just a tiny amount of pressure. "I didn't think I'd be needing any," he replied. "I'm very much regretting that now."

"Yeah," Bucky said with a breathless laugh, and he dropped down to rest his forehead against Loki's as his hips moved faster. Loki easily matched his pace, arms slung across Bucky's back holding him close. As much as Loki wished he could ride Bucky's dick, this was definitely enough to get the job done. But still, if he never saw Bucky again after this weekend, he'd always look back and wonder just how good he would have felt inside him.

They fucked Bucky's fist urgently, and after another few minutes Loki's body went rigid. His mouth fell open in a silent cry, toes curling and nails digging in too hard to the warm skin of Bucky's hips, and he gazed up at Bucky in the throes of ecstasy himself before they both spilled across Loki's stomach. Bucky stroked them through the aftershocks, their movements increasingly sluggish as the tension gripping them eased into blissful exhaustion, until Bucky rolled off of Loki to land with a thump on the hard ground.

He shot Loki a tired grin before dropping his head to the bunched up end of the sleeping bag still crumpled beneath them. "D'you think they heard that?"

Loki paused for a second, tuning out the sound of Bucky's heavy breathing beside him until he heard the telltale sound of Thor's snoring coming from nearby. "I doubt it," he replied, before lazily reaching for the paper towels in his bag to clean himself up.

"I'd better get out of here, before Steve wakes up and wonders where I am," Bucky said, and reluctantly he began to straighten his appearance. He pressed a soft kiss to Loki's lips before moving to slip back out of the tent, an almost sheepish smile playing on his lips as he glanced back at Loki watching him with a grin of his own. "'Night, Loki."

Still smiling to himself, Loki listened as Bucky's footsteps got quieter and disappeared. As soon as they had he flopped back down, closing his eyes to try and finally get some rest. This time, he drifted straight to sleep.

Unsurprisingly, he woke late the next morning, clambering bleary-eyed out of his tent to find the others sat around the barren campfire already eating breakfast. He wasn't the only one struggling to wake up, though; Bucky was stifling a yawn himself as he took a bite of his granola bar and looked over at Loki with a wink of a smile.

"Well good morning, princess," Thor said brightly. "How nice of you to join us."

Loki grumbled and sank down unceremoniously beside him.

"There's still a couple of eggs left if you'd like them for breakfast," he said, before pulling the cooler towards him and peering inside. "Or some apples."

"An apple's fine."

Thor tossed him one and he shined it on his shirt before taking a bite, while Thor looked back into the cooler with a frown. "Did we really drink all of that beer last night?" he said, looking for the crate that was still sitting inside Loki's tent. "I wouldn't have thought the four of us would get through an entire case in one evening."

Loki said nothing, glancing over at Bucky similarly attempting to look nonchalant and fighting to hide his smile as he met Loki's gaze. Luckily Thor didn't look Loki's way to notice, so he changed the subject before Thor could think too much about the missing case. "So what's the plan for today?"

"They've forecast rain early this afternoon," Steve said, and as Loki peered up at the sky he could already see grey clouds beginning to roll in. "It's probably best to be all packed up and ready to go before it starts."

Thor hummed in agreement. "I had hoped we'd be able to enjoy the morning up here," he said sadly. "But as least we won't have to rush to get home."

That was fine by Loki. Yet as anxious as he was to get back on the road, at the same time there was some small part of him reluctant to return to campus so soon.

They ate breakfast slowly, no need to hurry off for some new activity or other, and as they sat around chatting Loki glanced over at Bucky sat opposite. His eyes were already on Loki, and they shared a small smile before Loki turned his attention back to Steve attempting to fend off Thor's prying about the girl he'd apparently started seeing. But as amusing as it was to watch Steve's face grow increasingly red under Thor's questioning, it wasn't long before Loki's eyes ended up back on Bucky again. It wouldn't be the last time Loki's gaze returned to him before they eventually started readying themselves to leave.

After a few hours, they were all packed up and loading their things into Thor's car. And not a moment too soon; the wind was noticeably colder now, the sky overhead dark with the threat of coming rain. It looked like the clouds could burst at any second.

"So," Steve said, turning to Bucky, and Loki looked their way as well while he rounded the car to reach the passenger door, "did you have a good time this weekend?"

Bucky shrugged, hands deep in his pockets again and shoulders hunched, though he couldn't fully hide the tiny smile that crept across his lips at the question. "It had its moments, I guess."

"See? What did I tell you?" Steve was saying in response while Loki grinned to himself and slid into the car.

Once Thor had slammed the trunk closed the rest of them piled into the car after Loki, and they set off to head back to college. Loki paid about as much attention during the drive as he had on the way up there — not that the textbook spread out across his lap was much more interesting. It must have been distracting enough, though, for when Bucky helped himself to the pen Loki had been absently fiddling with his head snapped back up in surprise, and he found himself momentarily disoriented by the sudden appearance of civilisation outside the windows.

Bucky tossed the pen back onto Loki's textbook after a moment, along with a scrap of paper with a phone number written across it. Loki didn't have to guess whose number it was, though he flicked the paper over just to be certain the number wasn't one somebody had given to Thor and the real note from Bucky was on the back. The effect Thor had on women, for reasons Loki still couldn't quite determine, he wouldn't be surprised to find his car littered with random phone numbers from people. But the other side of the sheet was blank, and when Loki glanced over at Bucky he was smiling back at him.

'Call me,' he mouthed.

Loki grinned as he slipped the paper into his pocket. Oh, he had every intention of doing so.


End file.
